


Respect

by dragonashes



Series: Quintessence: Undertale One-shots [26]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Fluff, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Sexual Content, Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 05:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11373135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonashes/pseuds/dragonashes
Summary: When an argument with her boyfriend turns sour, Frisk has some important life choices to make.  Letting go is hard, but losing her self-respect is even worse.





	Respect

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the tags. If you are unsure about whether or not you should read this story, please feel free to ask. I would be happy to answer any questions either on this site or over on [Tumblr](https://dragonasheswrites.tumblr.com/ask).
> 
> You are responsible for the content you consume.

_ THUD! _

The impact of skin on skin shook the air in the small room.  The sound seemed to echo in waves through the silence that followed.  Both people stood, eyeing each other warily, across the distance that now separated them.

Frisk’s body had reacted on instinct, backing her up several steps.  She didn’t remember moving.  She hardly remembered what had sparked this sudden argument.  Did it matter?  She turned towards the door, digging her keys out of her back pocket.  She was overcome with a feeling of detachment, as if she was watching someone else move her hands.  It was a surprisingly calm sensation.

“Babe, where the  _ hell _ do you think you’re going?”

She didn’t answer.  He knew she hated the nickname, anyways.

“There’s no need to overreact-”

The calm snapped.  “Overreact?  You just punched me square in the face!  Not only is that abusive, but it’s also  _ incredibly _ stupid!  You’ve probably done as much damage to your own hand as you did to my face!  Nice going, loser.”

“Now wait just a minute!  Don’t change the subject!  All I wanted was a little bit of time from you!  I  _ miss _ you, babe!  I know you’re busy, and I appreciate what you do, but I...I  _ love _ you.  I just want a little more time to be  _ with _ you and not have to share you with meetings and monsters-”

“Oh, so you have a problem with monsters, is that it?”

“What?  No!  I...I didn’t mean it that way, you know I didn’t.  You  _ know _ me.  Now, I’m sorry about your face, but you...you made me so  _ mad, _ y’know?  Now c’mon.  Let’s calm down and talk this out like adults.”

Frisk felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.  Her eyes narrowed.  “Talk this out?  Like  _ adults? _  We tried that, remember?  Then you started yelling-”

“You were yelling too; don’t put all this on me!”

“I didn’t straight-up  _ punch you in the face!” _

“Look.  I said I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again.  But can’t we move beyond that?”

“Sure.  Sure we can.”  She took a step backwards, towards the door.  “And yes, this will  _ never _ happen again.  We’re done, Kyle.”

“What?  Frisk-”

“I have far too much self-respect to stay in a relationship with an abusive partner.”

“Frisk, you’re  _ not-” _

The sound of the door slamming closed was satisfying.  Unfortunately, it looked like her boyfriend - her  _ former _ boyfriend - wasn’t going to leave things be.  Darn perseverance.  It was one of the traits that had drawn her to him, but…

She slipped into the driver’s seat of her car and examined the side of her face in the rear-view mirror.  His fist had connected pretty much square on her eye socket.  She could still see fine, now that the shock had worn off, but she wanted to get it looked at.  Even after all the things that had happened to her, being punched in the eye was new; she didn’t want complications.

Oh, and the dumbass with the pathetic punch had finally figured out how to open his own front door.  Time to go.

Frisk took a circuitous route through the old shopping district just in case Mr. Wimpy Fingers decided to follow her, but she never saw his car.  He’d probably misplaced his keys.  Again.  Actually...wait a second...

She checked her pockets again and winced when she felt a familiar key fob.  Oh, right.  She’d picked them up when she first arrived at his house, before the argument.  His car had better gas mileage, so it made sense to take it on their planned dinner-movie date.

Well.  That complicated things a little.  Thankfully, she had backup.

Adjusting course, she made her way through a neat and tidy neighborhood.  The houses standing neatly in their rows were absolutely adorable: more like cottages, really, complete with fieldstone exteriors and little front gardens.  She wanted to have a house like one of these someday, if her finances and security team allowed.

The cottage she parked in front of had a facade of grey fieldstone.  A skull-and-crossbones flag flew proudly from a flagpole by the front door, much to the chagrin of the local housing association.  Colorful designs and messages decorated the stones, mostly in chalk, courtesy of both the residents and the neighbor children.  A game of hopscotch had been carefully drawn on the front walk: a cunning trap if she ever saw one.

Frisk hopped her way to the front door and rang the doorbell.  A few moments later, a flare of bright blue light appeared beside her.  She blinked the spots in her vision away.  “Hey, Sans.”

“heya.”  He looked up at her through narrowed eye sockets.  His shoulders seemed to tense, despite not having any muscles  _ to _ tense, when his gaze landed on her black eye.  “kyle?”

“Kyle.”

“c’mon inside, kid.”  He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked his door, then held it open for her.  “wait on the couch for a sec; lemme grab somethin’ for you.”

The inside of the skeleton brothers’ home was a strange mix of styles.  A lime green couch stood in the center of the living room, a replacement for the one they’d had in the Underground.  An orange padded chair and a well-used sky blue recliner stood beside it on either side of an elegant paisley footstool.  The kitchen was decorated with some of Papyrus’s bone attacks, pictures of family and friends making funny faces, and plates of fragrant spaghetti.  It never failed to surprise Frisk that a house kept so meticulously clean could nevertheless appear so messy.  (Or, as Sans put it, “lived-in.”)

The skeleton himself reappeared a moment later holding a bag of peas.  Neither brother actually ate peas if he could help it, so she had long assumed that they were kept on-hand simply because Papyrus had seen a TV show where a bag of frozen peas was put on a bruise.  It might even be the same bag she’d used during her clumsy phase at the end of high school back in the day.  She pushed that thought aside and held the bag of vegetables to her face.

It felt amazing.  The soreness she’d been ignoring dissolved.  And yeah, she was starting to feel the sting of ice on skin, but she could deal with that.  Lack of heat didn’t disturb her, really.

“so,” a voice beside her began, “wanna tell me what happened?”

“Um…”

“let me rephrase.  so, frisk, tell me what happened.”

Sans was using his serious voice.  Frisk winced.

She told him about the argument, trying to be as fair as possible.  Bossy Pants McGee had wanted her to take time off from work to spend with him.  She really,  _ really _ couldn’t do that with her new international outreach program just kicking off; there were meetings she had to attend and foreign dignitaries to host...she was simply going to be swamped.

He’d accused her of ignoring him.  She’d accused him of trying to monopolize her time and take her away from her friends and her work.  Neither was completely true...or, really, completely false.

But then he’d punched her.

Sans’s eye sockets narrowed, but he didn’t interrupt.

“I told him that we were through, and I left.  Yeah, he lashed out in anger, but...we were both angry.  I at least controlled my temper.  And he didn’t even seem  _ surprised _ by it, you know?  Do you remember when Paps walked up behind that ambassador from South Africa and she swung at him?  She was shocked and horrified.”

“it took paps hours to get her to stop apologizing to him.”

“Yeah.  See,  _ that’s _ the reaction I would’ve expected.  The fact that he seemed to just completely brush it off...well, that sits badly with me.”

“you think this isn’t the first time he’s hit someone.”

“Maybe, yeah.”

Sans closed his eye sockets for a moment, took what looked like a deep breath (but probably wasn’t; the guy didn’t have lungs, after all) and looked her in the eye.

“thanks for comin’ to me with this.  just out of curiosity, though, why didn’t you go to your mom’s?”

“Oh.  Well, you  _ did _ say when I first started dating that jerk that if I ever needed anything you’d be there.  I know you don’t work on Friday afternoons.  And...I don’t really want to explain my black eye to Mom just yet.”

“fair enough.  well, thanks.”

“Also, I miiiiight need a small favor.”

“oh?”

“I, um, may have accidentally abducted his car keys.”

His laughter was genuine: a surprised guffaw that filled the house.  “you did  _ what?” _

“We were going to a movie!  I was going to drive!  Then we got in a fight and I didn’t realize until I was ten minutes down the road that I still had his-”

She was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing.  The ringtone was a personalized one.  And at that moment, it was the  _ last _ sound she wanted to hear.

“that’s him?”

“Yeah.”

“go ahead and put it on speaker.  i’ll be quiet.”

She hesitated, but did as her friend asked.  They sat cross-legged on the couch facing each other, Frisk’s phone propped up between them on one of Papyrus’s “KISS THE  CHEF SKELETON” pillows.

“Hi, this is Frisk?”  She tried to keep her voice even.

“C’mon, Frisk,” came the voice of a familiar loose-wristed idiot.  “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?  I told you, we’re over.”

“Stop overreacting!  This isn’t like you.  You’re always so calm and collected.  I like that about you, you know.  Why are you being so hysterical about this?”

“‘This’ being…?”

“Okay, okay, I get it.  You’re mad.  But it’s not something a little makeup won’t fix, right?”

“So if I come back over there and punch you in the face, you’ll be okay with it?  Just smear a little makeup on that puppy and you’ll be fine?”

There was a sigh.  “There’s no need to be melodramatic about it.  All couples go through this phase.”

“Interesting that you would think so.”

“Interesting that you don’t sound like you believe me.  Let’s look at the facts, Frisk.  I’ve dated before; you haven’t.  Clearly, I’m doing something right that you aren’t.  Why won’t you listen to me?”

“Maybe because I have a rational mind capable of making up my own opinion.”

“See?  Now you’re being sarcastic.  Look.  We’ve been together for three months.   _ Three months! _  Do you really want to throw that away over one little argument?  And yeah, things got physical, but that’s normal.  All couples reach a point in their relationship where things get physical.   _ Normal  _ couples, anyways.  You know, there  _ are _ other ways to blow me off than by always telling me y-”

Frisk japped the “end call” button and felt her face heat up.  She and Sans were very good friends.  Heck, she’d had a pretty big crush on him before she started dating the wimpy wonder, even if he’d never seemed interested.  He didn’t need to hear how she’d resisted taking the ‘next step’ in her single romantic relationship to date.

“uh...what was that about?”

“What was what about?”

“that last thing he said.  it sounded like he meant something else.”

“Um.  Well.  You know.”

“...huh?”

“You  _ know.” _  Apparently he didn’t, if his blank stare was any indication.  She sighed.  She made a circle with her forefinger and thumb, then jabbed her other forefinger through it a few times.   _ “You know.” _

“yeeeeeaaaah, still not getting it.”

This, she decided, was punishment for all the times she’d teased Papyrus.  There was no other crime worth the embarrassment she was suffering right now.  “Sex, okay?  I wouldn’t do...sexual stuff with him.  I.  Um.  Wanted to wait.”

“o-oh.”  His skull was starting to turn...blue?  Weird.  She would’ve thought he blushed red like everyone else (including tsundereplanes, of all people; lack of circulation was no excuse).

“Yeah.  So…”

“wait.  he wanted to have  _ kids _ with you?  just like that?”

“Oh, probably not.  Um.  We - humans, that is - do...that...because it feels nice, sometimes.  There are things we can do to prevent pregnancy; he probably just wanted...that.”

“so he wanted to do something incredibly personal with you that you didn’t want...because it  _ feels nice.” _

“Um.  Yes?”

Oh, dear.  Sans was  _ growling. _  He usually only growled when someone did something awful, like trying to get Papyrus drunk at a seedy bar.  (That had happened once...and only once.)

“okay.  can i have those car keys?  i’m gonna pay  _ kyle _ here a visit.”

He said ‘Kyle’ like it was a particularly slimy variety of toad.  Frisk hesitated for just a moment - unleashing an angry Sans upon the unsuspecting world was not something to do lightly - before handing over the keys with an internal shrug.  In this case, it was definitely deserved.

“i’ll be back in a bit.  keep those peas on your eye.  if paps gets back, he’ll probably want to heal ya up.”

“Okay.  Be careful, though.  If he was willing to punch me…”

“don’t sweat it, kid.  all those years skipping out of work has made me  _ great _ at dodging.  i’ll just return the keys, have a quick chat with pansy-man, and be right back.”

“Sounds good.  And...thanks.”

He winked as he disappeared in his flash of blue light.  Her face heated back up again, and she took a deep breath.  Sans was just being friendly.  This was a very bad time for her old crush to resurface.  Not only was he doing her a huge favor, but she had  _ just _ ended her relationship about an hour before.

The two of them were just so...so different.  Kyle had been sweet and charming and a little wimpy when they were dating.  Heck, he couldn’t even throw a punch properly.  Frisk wasn’t a fighter, but Undyne had made sure she knew the basics of fist fighting.  Basics like: don’t tuck in your thumb, follow through, rotate your hips, aim for the soft bits, and so on.  Even in the shock of the moment she’d noticed that he had followed exactly  _ none _ of these rules.  (Probably for the best in the long run, but still.)

Sans, on the other hand, was lazy.  There was no getting around that: given the choice between going to work and laying in bed all day, he wouldn’t move a (proverbial) muscle.  And yet...when it came to his brother or his friends, he put in a surprising amount of effort.

He hand-stitched clothes for Papyrus.  He baked pies with Toriel.  He watered Asgore’s flowers.

He confronted angry, mildly abusive ex-boyfriends for Frisk.

She snorted.  He was hardly a knight in shining armor, but really, she didn’t need one.  Sans treated her like an equal, like a friend, and it was comforting to know that he had her back when she while she was off-kilter.  She readjusted her grip on the bag of peas, shifting it so she had a cool spot on her eye.

Hopefully he wouldn’t get himself into  _ too _ much trouble on her behalf…

.oO0Oo.

Sans knew where Kyle lived.  Kyle and his family had been monster supporters for years, helping the former denizens of the Underground move and integrate into human society.  They weren’t prominent - with the possible exception of Kyle, who’d been on the news a few times as the monster ambassador’s boyfriend - but they were good people.  They didn’t care if a person was human or monster: they treated everyone equally.

It was rare.  Many politicians who favored monsters did so at the expense of humans, which only led to resentment and conflict.  To find genuinely good people who believed in judging  _ all  _ people by character was a blessing.

And yet...that was the family  _ Kyle  _ had come from, so maybe things weren’t as great as they seemed.

Sans appeared on the doorstep of the house the kid had bought a year or so back, glancing it over.  Papyrus had helped Kyle move in.  Many monsters had.  The flower gardens still had the distinctive touch of his brother’s chaotic ‘help.’

He slipped a hand into his pocket and rang the doorbell.

A moment later, the man himself appeared at the door.  There was no flinch in his mannerisms, no trace of guilt that Sans could see.  He looked for all the world like the kind - though meek - young man who had stopped at nothing to secure a date with their ambassador.  “Oh, Sans!  Hello!  I wasn’t expecting you.”

“yeah, sorry to drop in on you.  say, is frisk around?”

“Ah, no.  We were planning to have a date night tonight, but she left...probably twenty minutes ago?  She said she wasn’t feeling well.  I tried calling her, but she wouldn’t pick up.”

_ There. _  The man’s eyes were shifting to the side, not looking directly at Sans.  At least he had enough of a conscience to realize he was lying.

“well, that’s too bad.  i guess i won’t bug ya anymore, then.”

“You’re not bugging me, Sans!  Actually, would you like to step inside for a minute?  I’d hate to have you come all this way and have to turn right back around empty-handed.”

“i need to get back soon, but...thanks, man.”   _ Hook, line, and sinker. _

Sans stepped inside and glanced around, trying to take everything in at once.  It looked pretty much like he remembered, although some of the pictures on the fireplace mantle had been replaced.  Many of the pictures now featured a smiling, happy Frisk.

Something in his chest ached a little.

“Do you want a glass of water, or…?”

“nah.  thanks for the offer, but i don’t really need it.”

“Oh.  Uh, right.”

There was a slightly awkward pause.  Apparently, the refusal of his offer of refreshment had thrown Kyle off for a moment; he was fiddling with a water bottle on the table beside the sofa.  Sans waited, patiently, for him to recover.

“So!  Did you need Frisk for something important?”

“kinda, yeah.  she asked me to run an errand.  i’m a bit worried about her, actually.  did she say why she left?”

“She...didn’t go into much detail, really.  She did seem pretty upset, but I’m not sure why.  It’s not like her to overreact.  Do you know if she had a bad day at the embassy?”

“well, things are gettin’ pretty busy for her.  your mom’s on the foreign advisory council; did she mention what’s goin’ on over there?”

“Uh...not really, no.  I haven’t spoken with her for a few days.  Is this a new thing?”

“nah.  frisk and the various administrative groups have been planning this for almost a year, and things are finally being put in motion.  maybe she needed a little extra time to herself?  no offense, bud, but she took a lot of time off last month to spend with you before things got crazy.  she cares about you a lot, you know.”

There was a tightening around Kyle’s eyes as he glanced away slightly.  His hands on the water bottle were doing some kind of strange wringing motion, probably unconsciously.  His forehead was wrinkled.

_ Guilt.  Finally. _

“I...I guess so?”

“oh?  trouble in paradise?”

“Well...it’s just...I really wish she’d take more time off, you know?  It’s great to see her in the evenings, but sometimes I feel so left out, you know?”

“eh, it’s busy season right now.  most of the folks i know work at the embassy now, and i haven’t even talked to most of them in weeks.  heck, i don’t see my brother most days except to read him a bedtime story, and half the time it’s technically an early-morning story.”

“Ouch.  Sorry to hear it.”

He waved it off.  “no need to be.  pap is doin’ what he loves.  what kind of monster would i be if i tried to keep him from doin’ that?  sure, i get him to take breaks when he’s worn out, and i try to make sure he eats properly and that all the bills are paid on time, but i trust him.  he’ll take care of the rest.”

“I...I see.  You’re a good big brother, Sans.”

“thanks, man.  hey, not to change the subject, but what happened to your hand?  looks like a nasty bruise you got there.  you didn’t break anything, did you?”

Kyle covered the aforementioned hand with the sleeve of his jacket, still looking at something over Sans’s left shoulder.  “It’s...fine.  Say, Sans, I really don’t want to keep you.  What...uh, what kind of errand did you say Frisk sent you on?”

“i didn’t, actually.”

“O-oh.  Is it private?”

“not really.  as i’m sure you’ve begun to suspect, it involves you, actually.”  He tossed the car keys onto the sofa beside Kyle.  “i just wanted to hear out your side of the story first.  but since you don’t feel like sharing…”

“Wait!  Wait!  Man, you...you know me!  I’d never-”

“never what?  hit a gal?  now, i’m all for self-defense, but i know frisk.  she’s a paci _ frisk; _ she’d never hurt a fly.  i know she didn’t attack you.”

“What?  She...it could  _ totally _ have been self-defense!!”

“nah.  there’s no sign of a struggle in here.  you’re moving normally, and the only injury i can see is that hand of yours.  frisk knows how to land a punch; if she’d fought back, you’d be in a world of pain.  besides, why would you lie about the reason frisk isn’t here if you weren’t guilty?”

“I’m...trying to protect her?”

“oh, cut the bullshit.  i’ve heard the story from her, and i’ve heard...well, what you have to say on the matter.  now,” he drew the human into an encounter, “it’s time to be  j u d g e d .”

_ sans -> ACT -> CHECK _

Huh.  The guy’s HP wasn’t bad, but his ATK and DEF would’ve made Undyne cry tears of outrage.  It wasn’t often that a human adult had such low stats.  Except…

...The guy’s LV was 3.  No EXP, so he hadn’t killed anyone, but he’d certainly hurt a lot of people deliberately.  That lent credence to Frisk’s theory.

_ Kyle -> ACT -> GAPE _

_ sans -> ACT -> JUDGE _

“ya know, the ability to see a human’s full stats is a rare thing for us.  stats are pretty arbitrary, after all; i mean, who decides the difference between one point of attack and two?  if you fall in the middle, do you have one and a half attack?  but some of us monsters tend to be a little more...text-based.  it’s easier for us to translate the world into letters and numbers.  and buddy...well, you’ve got a story to tell.

“care to explain why your stats say you’ve hurt so many people?”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> DENY _

“What is this?  What’s going on?  Why...why do you think I’ve hurt someone?  I haven’t hurt anyone, not really!  It’s...it’s normal!  And private!  I...you’re a cool dude, Sans, but it’s way out of line for you to interfere in the relationship between Frisk and I!”

_ sans -> ACT -> ACCUSE _

“please.  i know you know what an encounter is.  as for your insistence that abuse is somehow ‘normal,’ well, i’m not sure where you got  _ that _ idea but you really need to get your head checked.  being violent isn’t love.  hurting someone isn’t love.  but it isn’t about hurting someone, is it?  no;  _ you _ use violence as a means of controlling someone.  don’t try to deny it; it’s written all over your face.  why do you want to control frisk?”

_ Kyle -> FIGHT _

“YOU’RE WRONG!”  Kyle screamed as he swung towards Sans.

_ Miss! _

_ sans -> ACT -> ACCUSE _

“woah, there, buddy.  watch where you’re swinging those keys.  you could do some damage with those things.  now, why don’t you just answer the question?  why do you want to control frisk?”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> DENY _

“I don’t!  I swear, I don’t know where all this is coming from!  How did you get my car keys?”

_ sans -> ACT -> EXPLAIN _

“from frisk, of course.”  He paused a moment to let that sink in, prolonging his turn.  “after you decided to lash out at her, what did you  _ think _ she was gonna do?  sit at home and wallow in misery?  she’s tougher than that.”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> PASS BLAME _

_ “Tough? _  If she was  _ tough _ she would’ve confronted me herself instead of sending her bodyguard to do it for her!  She’s not tough; she’s a coward.”

_ sans -> ACT -> MOCK _

“heh.  nah.  see, she doesn’t owe you anything.  not even an explanation.  you’ve already shown that you’re willing to use force instead of words with her: why would we put her in any more danger?  no; you’re not getting anywhere  _ near _ her until she wants to see you, not if i have anything to say about it.  capiche?”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> COMPLAIN _

“That’s not fair!  That was a one-time thing, and I apologized for it!”

_ sans -> ACT -> ACCUSE _

“if you’d taken responsibility for your actions, then  _ maybe, _ yeah, we could cut you some slack.  you didn’t, though.  you blamed her, you accused her of being overly dramatic, and you tried to downplay your actions.  then you went after her for not mating with you.  in short: you’re a lot more disgusting than i took you for,  _ buddy.” _

_ Kyle -> ACT -> AD HOMINUM ATTACK _

_ “I’m _ disgusting?  What about you?  I know what’s going on between you and Frisk.  She’s been lying to me for  _ months, _ claiming that she hasn’t dated anyone before, and I think she actually believes it!  That leaves  _ you. _ _ You’ve _ been leading her on.   _ You  _ didn’t even have the decency to make it official with her!”

_ sans -> ACT -> NOT AN ARGUMENT _

“so...you’re trying to justify hitting your girlfriend...by saying that i didn’t actually date her.  huh.  i’m not sure where you got the idea that we’ve ever dated, but it has no bearing on what you’ve done here.  whether frisk and i are friends or something more going forward is between the two of us.  what i’m going to do with you here and now is what you should  _ really _ be worried about.”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> MISDIRECTION _

“Y-you’re just jealous!”

_ sans -> ACT -> AUDIBLE SIGH _

“seriously, kid, i don’t know what got into you.  where’s the guy frisk trusted enough to go out with?  where’s the guy who worked long hours with his parents and siblings to help monsters get settled in here on the surface?  where’s the guy who volunteered at tori’s school for a year until she could afford to hire teachers?”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> CONFESS _

“I...I don’t know.  I mean, I remember all that...but...I’ve changed, y’know?  It was easy to be nice when I had a lot of free time and lived with my parents, but...then I got a job.  It’s just been so stressful, and no one  _ cares. _  Most of the time Frisk won’t even take time off work so we can have dinner together anymore.  I get it that she has important things going on, especially now, but she’s the ambassador!  She has secretaries and councils and assistants that she can delegate that stuff to!  I don’t know why she’s using work as an excuse not to see me, but it...it makes me so  _ angry. _  She just brings out the worst in me, I guess.”

_ sans -> ACT -> CONVICT _

“stress ain’t an excuse to take out your anger on other people.  if you’ve got a problem, it’s up to you to deal with it.  do you really think  _ any _ of us would turn ya down if you needed to go out for a night and de-stress?  sure, we’re not frisk, but if she’s your only social contact that puts waaay too much pressure on her.  we’re your friends too, pal.  did ya think we wouldn’t notice that you’ve barely spoken to us since you ‘n frisk started dating?  this isn’t frisk’s fault.  it’s  _ yours. _

_ “you _ made the choice to get the job you have.  if it’s too stressful for ya, well, talk to your boss or look for another job.  if you wanted more time with frisk, you could’ve volunteered at the embassy.  i know you haven’t been by there in a while; i get dragged into a lot more than i’d like, and i haven’t seen you around.  and if you wanted to mate with frisk...well, pal, isn’t there usually a procedure for those things, even among humans?  little things like, say, at the very least making sure the gal actually  _ wants to do that with you?” _

_ Kyle -> MERCY -> SPARE _

“I don’t want to get into this with you, Sans.  You don’t understand.”

_ sans -> ACT -> INQUIRE _

“oh?  what don’t i understand?”

_ Kyle -> ACT -> WHINE _

“I’m human!  Human guys have  _ needs-” _

_ sans -> ACT -> INTERRUPT _

“gonna stop ya right there, buddy.  i’ve heard that one before, so i did a little digging.  as it turns out?  yeah...not a need.  water is a need for you humans.  food is a need.  reproducing?  it’s a strong urge, but not a need.  you weren’t in danger of dying because frisk turned ya down.  and even if you were, the way you went about the whole thing was disgusting and disgraceful.”

_ Kyle -> MERCY -> SPARE _

The guy looked embarrassed and angry.  Figuring he’d at least made an impression, Sans spared Kyle back.

The encounter magic faded, leaving the human and the skeleton facing each other.  Kyle held his keys in a white-knuckled grip, but he made no move to attack.  He was gonna have a lot to think about.

“so.  kyle.  here’s what we’re gonna do.  i’m gonna take frisk downtown and have her file a police report.  the authorities are gonna take it from there.  we’re gonna try to keep it discreet.  if i find out that you’ve gone spreading lies about what happened today, or running to the press, or creeping on frisk...well, let’s just say you’re gonna have a  b a d   t i m e .  got it?”

“G-got it.”

And now the guy was scared.  Sans deliberately took a deep breath, calming the magic that was flaring in his soul.  The lights in his eye sockets reignited after a moment.

“cool, cool.  welp, see ya later.”

He slipped a hand into his pocket and teleported back home.  It was kinda rude not to leave the house first, but...well.

“Sans?”

Frisk was still curled up on the couch.  Despite the bag of soggy peas covering half her face and the disaster her makeup had become, Sans was caught off-guard by just how beautiful she looked.

Yeah, yeah, he was a sap.

“hey, kiddo.”  He ruffled her hair and held a hand out for the bag of peas, which she gave him.  “how’re you feelin’?  need somethin’ else for that eye?”

“I’m feeling better, actually, but thanks.  He really didn’t punch me that hard, in the end.”

“well, i saw the damage he did to his knuckles; i wanna make sure you’re not gonna have eye problems.”

“Either Mom or Papyrus can heal me up.  It shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“okay.”

The silence that fell seemed a little tense.

“well...i’m gonna put these in the freezer.”

“Y-yeah!  Okay.”

He beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen, cursing himself all the way.  Darn Kyle for bringing up his crush on Frisk!  Why the heck was he thinking about it  _ now, _ after all Frisk had been through in the past few hours?

She needed time to heal.  Her pain was physical at the moment, but he could see traces of a deeper hurt.  Betrayal always left deep scars.  She’d get over Kyle eventually, and then  _ maybe _ he’d have a chance, but he couldn’t see why she’d want to.  Sans was nothing like Kyle.  He wasn’t tall or handsome or motivated or kind.  Most days he could barely pull himself out of bed in the morning, and that was  _ with _ Papyrus acting as a living alarm clock.  Frisk wasn’t perfect - no one was - but at least she tried; and when she messed up, she pulled herself back together, fixed her mistakes, and tried again.

No, there was no reason someone like Frisk would ever be attracted to someone like him, even without the obvious interspecies differences.  And, y’know, the fact that he looked like a walking, talking human corpse.

“Sans?” the woman herself called from the other room.  “Everything okay in there?”

“uh, yeah.”

He glanced around for an excuse and grabbed the first thing that came to mind.

“Spaghetti?”  Frisk asked, eyebrow quirked, as he settled back onto the couch.  “You’re hungry?”

“eh, it’s a new recipe that paps is tryin’ out.  gotta make sure it’s not an  _ impasta.” _

She giggled, so he counted that as a win.

“so you looked like you had something on your mind when i showed back up.  a  _ penne _ for your thoughts?”

“I wouldn’t want you to think I’m moping  _ fusilli _ reasons.”

“ooh, an exotic one.  moving to the  _ ziti _ has been good for your vocabulary.”

“It’s been an improvement,  _ orzo _ I think.”

“well, i think you’re just  _ pici _ the way you are.”

“Aww, thanks, but  _ udon _ ’t have to compliment me.”

“goin’ asian, are we?  but there are  _ somen _ -y good italian ones!”

She finally lost the battle with her laughter.  “Well, you’ve officially out-punned me.  I can’t think of anything else without reusing some of yours.”

“heh.  don’t try to out-pun the punmaster.”  He took a bite of the spaghetti (which was, in fact, a new recipe Paps was trying out), and the taste was...indescribable.  Too much salt.  And probably glitter.  And were those...chocolate chips?  He swallowed quickly, keeping his expression neutral.  “on a completely unrelated note, if you have some time maybe we should stop by the police station before paps gets home?”

“Police...wait, why?”

“i think you should report this.  i know you don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but i  _ also _ know that letting something like this go unchecked is a bad idea.  you were right; kyle has lv, so he’s definitely hurt people before.  maybe they’ll let him off with a warning.  maybe someone else he’s done this to will come forward.  all the same, i wouldn’t want this to happen to someone who had, maybe, a little less self-respect.”

Frisk was quiet for a long moment, then nodded slowly.  “I see your point.  Okay, let’s go file a report.  I hate to think what will happen if the media gets wind of this, but it’s better than doing nothing.”

“hey, don’t knock doing nothing.”  He held out his hand anyways.

She reached for it, but hesitated.  “Sans...before we go, can I say something?”

“sure.  whatever you need.  i’m all ears.  well.  i would be if i had any ears at all.”

“Hah.  Uh, I don’t want this to affect our friendship…”

“if it does, we’ll just build it right back up again.”

“Okay.”  She took a deep breath then turned to face him, eyes brimming with DETERMINATION.  “Sans, this probably isn’t the right time to say this, but...I’ve admired you for a very long time.  I appreciate everything you’re doing for me.  And...I think I might have a little crush on you.  I’m sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but I wanted to be honest with you instead of making a fool out of myself and having you read it on my face or something.”

He was turning colors again, he just  _ knew _ it.  He tried to say something awesome and cool and smooth, but what came out was: “uh, ‘kay.”

“Okay.”

“i, uh, didn’t mean...wait a sec.  wait.  so...i, uh, respect you too.  and i think you’re great.  and i don’t know why we’re friends.  i mean, i  _ know _ why we’re friends, but i don’t know why someone like you hangs out with someone like me.  that sounds worse, doesn’t it?  what i mean is…”

“Sans, don’t put yourself down.  You’re a great guy.  So maybe you aren’t the most motivated; that’s okay!  When it matters, you put in a lot of time and effort for the people you really care for.  Your brother, my mom and dad, and even me...we all see how much you do for us, and we really appreciate it.”

“...ugh?”  He was definitely blue.  Probably as blue as the old jacket he used to wear.  In what world did  _ Frisk _ find that  _ attractive?? _

The one he was standing in, apparently, because she gave him a cheeky little smile and booped her nose on his forehead in what could only be a deliberate kiss, skeleton-style.  “Well, it sounds like we’ve both got some thinking to do, and I’m not really ready to jump into another relationship  _ just _ yet, but...I’d like to hang out with you sometime.  I’m gonna be really busy for the next month or so, but...maybe lunch at the Embassy the next time we’re both free?”

“sure, yeah!  i mean...that sounds great!”

“Cool!”  She was turning pink too, which made him feel a little better.

“so...police station, or…”

“Oh, yeah!  That’s right.  Yeah, let’s report that loser.”

She took his hand, and they both disappeared.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> To anyone who is or has been in an abusive relationship: you are not alone. The hardest part is admitting it; the second-hardest part is getting out. This is especially tricky in cases where there's codependencies like shared living, shared finances, or (in the case of a romantic relationship) children. Abuse can happen to anyone, male or female, of any race, creed, culture, or country of origin. In the U.S., [NCADV has some resources you can check out](http://www.ncadv.org/learn-more/resources) that cover many different kinds of abuse, including lesser-known types like abuse against men or abuse against the elderly. I was unable to find such a comprehensive resource on an international scale, but please comment if you have one.
> 
> On a more personal note, I apologize for the delay in stories. I lost my job two days after I posted that last story, then my grandfather passed away two days after that. My time has been monopolized by funeral arrangements and job hunting, which - while important - left me little time for writing. I hope this longer story makes up for it a little. I am still working on my multichapter babies (the longest of which has grown to over 300 pages; Google Docs cries every time I open it) but my posting schedule should get more regular from here on out. Pending any more hard knocks, naturally.


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